“Receiving a Governor’s Energy Excellence Award is a testament to the hard work put in by all the organizations that participated in the first Michigan Battle of the Buildings—and all the organizations that are competing in the competition’s current, second season,” said Cheri Holman, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council West Michigan Chapter (USGBC-WM), which organized the competition. “The members of the U.S. Green Building Council West Michigan Chapter are honored that this project has been recognized as an energy leader in our great state. Michigan’s biggest building losers of 2014 saved the equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions of 2.7 million miles driven by an average passenger vehicle—and we’re excited to see how much the biggest losers of the current season will lose.”

The Michigan Battle of the Buildings received the Best Education Award at a ceremony held in Lansing on Sept. 22. Battle of the Buildings is a statewide competition — a Biggest Loser-style event — that allows Michigan businesses to celebrate their success in energy efficiency, as well as the thousands of dollars they save in lower energy bills. It is one of the projects of the U.S. Green Building Council West Michigan Chapter, a LEED leader whose mission is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated in a way that improves the quality of life in West Michigan.

The award comes on the heels of the release of a major green building economic impact study Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) and released last week by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The study finds that the green building sector is outpacing overall construction growth in the U.S., and that this growth rate will continue to rise.

The study finds that in Michigan, green construction accounted for 132,000 jobs between 2011-2014 – and that is slated to rise to 242,000 between 2015-2018. The impact of green construction in Michigan will contribute more than $20 billion to the U.S. GDP between 2015-2018, with labor earnings of more than $13 billion between 2015-2018.

The first annual Governor’s Energy Excellence Awards, sponsored in part by the Michigan Agency for Energy, honors Michigan organizations and individuals for their commitment to responsible energy production and consumption. Michigan has emerged as a leader in energy efficiency and these awards are meant to showcase outstanding achievements in reducing energy waste.